Former Bangladesh captain and world’s number one allrounder Shakib-Al Hasan and dashing left-handed opener Tamim Iqbal will be among five Bangladeshi cricketers to feature in the inaugural Sri Lanka Premier League (SLPL) which will be held in Colombo and Pallekele from August 10-31. Apart from those two, current Bangladesh captain Mushfiqur Rahim, left-arm spinner Elias Sunny and allrounder Nasir Hossain were the other three mentioned in the list of 56 foreign players picked by the seven franchises via a draft system in Colombo on Thursday, announced Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC).

The list is dominated by players from Australia (18) and Pakistan (13), which also includes a host of current, former and upcoming players from Bangladesh, New Zealand, the West Indies and South Africa.

Former Bangladesh skipper Shakib will be playing for Uthura while his deputy Tamim will represent Wayamba. Mushfiq, Sunny and Nasir were scooped by the Nagenahira franchise.

The foreign players will play alongside leading Sri Lankan stars like skipper Mahela Jayawardene, Kumar Sangakkara, Tillakaratne Dilshan and Lasith Malinga for seven provincial franchise teams. Sri Lanka's domestic players were to be drafted on Friday.

Unlike the televised players' auctions in the IPL, the cricketers contracted to the SLPL were divided among the seven teams by a draft system that was held behind closed doors in Colombo onThursday.

The cricket board has so far declined to name the owners of

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the seven franchises or the amount each player will receive for the 24-match tournament.

Recent media reports suggested that all seven franchises were bought by little-known Indian companies after organisers received lukewarm response from local firms.

The amount of salaries that the cricketers would get was not mentioned in the press release.

FOREIGNERS IN SLPL

UTHURA: Shakib Al Hasan, Brendan Taylor, Kevon Cooper, Imran Farhat, Fidel Edwards, David Miller, Dillon du Preez, Samuel Badree NAGENAHIRA: Mitchell Marsh, Imran Nazir, Travis Birt, Ahmed Shahzad, Ben Laughlin, Elias Sunny, Musfiqur Rahim, Nasir Hossain

RUHUNA: Shahid Afridi, Daniel Harris, Ryan Harris, Aaron Finch, Jerome Taylor, Nathan McCullum, Ryan McLaren, Richard Levi

WAYAMBA: Azhar Mahmood, Umar Akmal, Tamim Iqbal, Colin Ingram, Kemar Roach, James Faulkner, Abdul Razzaq, Brad Hogg

KANDURATA: Saeed Ajmal, Misbah-ul-Haq, SohailTanvir, Chris Lynn, Dane Vilas, Albie Morkel, Johan Botha, Adam Voges

BASNAHIRA: Brad Hodge, Marion Samuels, Daniel Smith, Dirk Nannes, Robin Peterson, Tim Southee, Clint McKay, Cameron Borgas UVA: Andrew McDonald, Umar Gul, Shoaib Malik, Callum Ferguson, James Franklin, Abdur Rehman, Hammad Azam, Chris Gayle